1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and, in particular, to manufacturing parts for vehicles using a mandrel. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a mandrel configuration monitoring system.
2. Background
Manufacturing parts for an aircraft is a complex and time-consuming process. Hundreds of thousands of parts may be designed and assembled to complete an aircraft.
Manufacturing different parts for the aircraft involves performing operations on the parts in forming the parts for use in manufacturing the aircraft. These operations may include, for example, without limitation, drilling, countersinking, fastening, coupling, sealing, coating, inspection, or other suitable types of operations. These operations may be performed by a tool such that each part is ready for assembly with other parts in the aircraft.
With composite parts, one or more layers of composite material are typically laid up on a mold. This mold may take the form of a mandrel. The different layers may be laid up in different orientations and different numbers of layers may be used for the composite part being manufactured.
After the different layers of composite material have been laid up on the mandrel, the layers of composite material may be consolidated and cured upon exposure to temperature and pressure, thus forming the composite part. Various operations may be performed on the composite layers after curing. For instance, holes may be drilled in the composite structure such that the composite part may be attached to a frame for a fuselage. As another example, a portion of the composite part may be cut out to form a door.
In manufacturing aircraft parts, guides are used to maintain a desired position for an aircraft part during manufacturing. With composite parts, the position of the composite part on the mandrel is important in forming features on the composite parts. For instance, a mechanical guide, or target, is sometimes used to maintain the desired position for a composite part during various stages of manufacturing. Targets may be used to determine a proper location to perform operations to form features on the composite part. In some cases, the features may be used to align the composite part with another composite part, a metal part, or some other suitable type of part. In other cases, these features are used to fasten parts together. These features may be, for example, holes, channels, slots, posts, and other suitable features that may be used to align composite parts with each other.
After manufacturing, parts are then assembled to form an aircraft. During the assembly of the aircraft, placement of parts relative to each other is important. For example, properly aligning one part with respect to another part allows assembly of the aircraft to be completed in an efficient manner. Precise locations of the features formed in the parts are needed for proper assembly. For instance, holes in two parts should align to properly fasten the parts together.
If parts are misaligned, however, undesired inconsistencies may occur. For example, if a hole is drilled in an undesired location, the part may not be fastened to another part in the assembly as desired. In another illustrative example, if a mandrel is deformed, the corresponding composite part also may be deformed.
Because the aircraft is made up of hundreds of thousands of parts, even small inconsistencies can result in parts being reworked or discarded. As a result, assembly of an aircraft may take more time than desired, the cost may be greater than desired, or both. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.